| A lil' over a month ago, I purchased 3 Golden Dragon Kaffir Lily plants from Home Depot and planted them in my front yard (zone 9), in between the house and the lawn. This area gets a period of direct sunlight on a daily basis and also gets watered with everything else in the front yard (3x/day for 5 minutes). According to the tag, the |
| Let's see if we can straighten things out for you. No, you didn't make a mistake when planting outdoors. Clivia miniata ?Golden Dragon? is native to South Africa. It produces brilliant, large clusters of funnel-shaped lemon yellow flowers on 2 ft. stalks that appear above dense clumps of dark green, strap-shaped, 1? ft. long evergreen leaves. In your gardening region it traditionally blooms in spring, but may bloom occasionally in summer and fall. Ornamental berries follow flowers. It has proven to be tougher than other varieties of Clivia; ?Golden Dragon? is hardy to 18 degrees and even at those temperatures only shows minor leaf damage. Although your weather occasionally gets to freezing, I don't think it will ever get too cold for your Golden Dragon. I wouldn't worry about watering in winter. Since the plant is outdoors, it should be happy with natural rainfall, as long as the soil drains well. The plant tag is generic and people in most parts of the country grow Clivia indoors because of their extreme winter weather. In your gardening region, the winters are mild compared to the rest of the country. If you want more reassurance, you can look your plant up in Sunset Western Garden Book. According to the authors, Clivia is safe to grow in zones 12-17 and 19-24. Their map puts Fairfield in zone 14 or 15. Best wishes with your new Clivia! |
